


A Message Through Time

by Repeatinglitanies



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Don’t copy to another site, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 10:56:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20505830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Repeatinglitanies/pseuds/Repeatinglitanies
Summary: Aug 29 Prompt: FamilyVanya finds a way to send a message to Five while he's stuck in the apocalypse





	A Message Through Time

At twenty-four, Number Five decided to attempt time travel despite promising Vanya he wouldn’t. He had planned to do it in secret. Go to the future, see what it had to offer and then come back before Vanya came back from work. She would never have to know.

Unfortunately, Five never made contingencies for what would happen if he got stuck. He carried no provisions or extra clothing. He left no note. For all intents and purposes, his trip was meant to be a quick one. But it seemed fate, the universe, or fortune (whatever one might call forces outside one’s control) was against him.

As soon as he landed on the desolate future, seen the wreckage that accompanied it and found out the exact date it was supposed to happen, Five immediately set his powers to bring him back. He had only been at the end of the world for a few hours. But it was more than enough to haunt him for the rest of his days. Now all he wanted was to go back home, climb on the bed he shared with Vanya and wrap his arms around her as soon as she joined him.

Yes, that was what he needed. An hour, even just a moment in Vanya’s company, would be enough to bring him back to the proper frame of mind. He had to go back and be with Vanya. Remind himself that he could prevent the future he was currently witnessing. And get to work.

From now on, the apocalypse would take precedence over time travel in Five’s waking thoughts.

But to Five’s horror, his powers failed him. The dawning realization that he was stuck there at the end of the world while Vanya would be back home frantically searching for him chilled Five. He increased his efforts. He tried again after each failure. All to no avail.

And in the end, he gained nothing but the discovery that the apocalyptic nights were bitterly cold.

______________

It didn’t take long for Vanya to conclude that Five time traveled against her wishes. Fear turned to anger and then to anguish. For days, she woke up hoping to find Five right beside her. Barring that, she wished he would just reappear as if nothing happened.

Each night with no Five carried it’s own special brand of suffering. 

It took time but Vanya eventually had to move on from negative emotions that would only serve to harm her health. She knew she had to carry on with or without Five.

But her heart was a stubborn little thing.

Vanya had no definitive proof. But somehow, she knew Five was in the future. Despite everything, she knew he would never have left her willingly. Something must have happened. And he was somehow stuck there.

That was what she chose to believe despite the doubt gnawing at her, telling her that it was only natural for someone as amazing as Five to eventually leave an ordinary girl like Vanya. And what if the worst had happened to him?

No, she had to remember what kind of person Five is. He was independent and pragmatic. She was sure Five can land on his feet no matter where (and when) he ended up. They had stood by each other through thick and thin. And if he had an issue with anything, he wouldn’t hesitate to speak his mind. So as far as Vanya was concerned, there was no way Five would leave her without a goodbye. If he had wanted out of their relationship, he would have said so long before.

Had he been stuck in the past, Five would have made sure to send word to let her know. But as the weeks turned into months with no form of communication from Five, Vanya’s belief that he was in the future was cemented.

So she made a time capsule. Vanya was no stranger to the concept as she and Five had buried one ten years ago. With Diego’s help, she buried her new capsule right beside the old one, hoping that Five would receive her message.

______________

Five found her capsule in the process of digging up the old one. It had been a year since he got stuck in the apocalypse. During that time, he had not encountered another soul. And he had no idea what became of Vanya.

He missed her and the longing reminded him that a piece of her might still be within reach. Vanya had included a picture of the two of them together in the time capsule. 

Not that long ago, he would have found it ridiculous for anyone to waste so much energy just for a photograph. But the person he was then hadn’t been without human company for a year. His past self hadn’t experienced starvation and exposure to the elements and fearing for Vanya being left all alone. He had never been this long away from her. And he found himself missing her smile.

So he dug for the treasure he was seeking. That was when he found a smaller capsule. 

Five immediately knew it was from Vanya. No one else knew the location of the first capsule. So he wasted no time in unsealing it.

Over the course of the following days, weeks, months and years, he would hold on to what he found inside. It along with the picture of Vanya and himself together were his talismans against the despair and perhaps madness that dogged his steps as time passed in the apocalypse with no significant breakthrough in his quest to get home. 

Dolores kept telling him that something was off with his equations. Unfortunately, Dolores herself was unable to tell him what exactly was wrong.

So when the Handler appeared seemingly out of thin air to offer him a job and a ticket out of the end of the world, he accepted with little hesitation. The Commission had the technology to take him anywhere in time. And he was desperate for a way out.

It hurt him to have to leave Dolores. But that didn’t stop him from going.

Because he needed to return to Vanya no matter what.

She was waiting for him. And if the ultrasound scan she sent him was any indication, she wouldn’t be the only one that needed him.

So he pocketed his talismans and went with the Handler.


End file.
